Cost Optimization

Identify what to right-size, what to clean up, and what new commitments to consider. Right-sizing recommendations are filtered against Azure Policy SKU restrictions and flagged for overlap with existing reservations / savings plans, so recommendations don't fight existing commitments.

This skill uses cost data, Azure Advisor recommendations, and ARG inventory/configuration only — apply utilization-based recommendations with normal change-control review.

All ARG queries below take subscription-id placeholders (<sub-id-1>, <sub-id-2>) — replace with the target subscriptions. To target a management group, first resolve member subs via ResourceContainers | where type == 'microsoft.resources/subscriptions' | where properties.managementGroupAncestorsChain has '<mg-name>' | project subscriptionId.

Run every ARG query through the generate → validate → execute workflow. The queries below are ready to run, but pass each one to validate_query first — it confirms the syntax and property paths before you spend a call on execute_query. If you need to adapt a query to a different resource type or field, draft it with generate_query (a natural-language prompt), then validate and execute.

Step 1: Top Cost Contributors

Call query_costs with timeframe=MonthToDate, groupBy=ServiceName,ResourceGroupName. Identify the top 5–10 cost drivers — these are where optimization effort pays off.

Multi-currency caveat: at management-group or billing-account scope, the result may contain multiple Currency values. Rank contributors per currency — don't combine USD and GBP into one number.

Blob storage shortcut: if Storage (ServiceName = "Storage") is among the top contributors, recommend enabling smart tier on the account(s) — it automatically moves blobs between access tiers based on usage to reduce cost. Point the user to Optimize Azure Blob Storage costs with smart tier. Surface this as a recommendation and link only — don't estimate the savings.

Step 2: Advisor Cost Recommendations (via ARG)